


Growing Pains

by Missa_Kylea



Series: Idiots in Love [2]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Axel spends whole first chapter angsting, Language warning - swearing, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Pre-Slash, Tattoos, Teenage Drama, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-23
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2020-09-24 20:14:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20364445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Missa_Kylea/pseuds/Missa_Kylea
Summary: After the fiasco when Axel started high school and became good friends with Saix –even thinking about it made Axel cringe; Roxas got so possessive of his spot as best friend it was like he traded personalities with Riku– Axel had thought that they had gotten through their growing pains and everything was set in stone from now on. Bring on the retirement home, and all that crap. Now though, Axel was questioning everything.Continuation from Big Dumb Crush.





	Growing Pains

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place a month after big dumb crush. Sora, Roxas and Kairi are 16, Riku is 17, and Axel just turned 18.  
Axel is Kairi's brother in this, and Roxas and Sora are twins.
> 
> I am not profiting from this and I do not own any characters, settings, or IP related to Kingdom Hearts. 
> 
> Again this is a quick fic I wrote at 3am after thinking of how to continue big dumb crush for like 2 months.  
I promise I am writing a much higher quality fic if anyone cares, be on the look out for the first chapter of that in the next week.
> 
> Again, I apologise for the commas.

One:

Anyone who had seen Axel recently would say that he was sulking, or in the case of his sister, pouting. Axel refused to concede that he was sulking, or what the fuck Kairi, pouting. He was, he insisted, _pissed off_, and rightfully so.

‘Oi, if your best friend of ten years was suddenly avoiding you over something minor- ‘

‘Tattooing your face isn’t exactly minor, you moron,’ Larxene interrupted, not looking away from where she had bullied Demyx into letting her paint his nails. While an unlikely hobby at first glance, Larxene utilised bright colours on her nails the same way certain toxic animals did on their bodies. ‘Not to a prep like Roxas, anyway.’

Axel glared, unable to refute that. The nerd could kick ass like nobody’s business, but he still dressed like he was begging to be mugged and got scandalised like someone’s maiden aunt sometimes. This all meant Roxas spent a lot of time glaring off random Samaritans who thought Axel was bothering him when they hung out in town. ‘It’s still a shallow as shit reason to drop me like this. You’d think I had the goddamn plague.’

Demyx looked like he had something to say to that, but Axel was over them already. He got up and left, ignoring their calls as he started to walk to his car. His so-called friends had been treating this like a joke since his birthday and he got his tattoos. Axel knew that they thought he was making too big a deal out of this, but it was really getting to him. When he got them he knew that his family would freak out at first and that he’d get the side eye from strangers while trying to walk down the damn street, but that happened enough when you were 6’4” and had hair like his anyway, so he had figured it would be fine.

It was not fine. He hadn’t expected some of the side glances to be coming from his closest friend, and after more than a month without any improvement and increasingly more time spent staring at the top of Roxas’ head (if he saw him at all), Axel was starting to edge more into upset.

They had met when he was eight and Roxas was six and he had found Roxas crying alone in his backyard. At first Axel had wanted to run away, but well, he figured he should probably check his sister’s new friend hadn’t hurt himself. Luckily, Roxas hadn’t, but turned out the problem was that he _wasn’t_ his sister’s new friend, at least not anymore. Apparently, Roxas had a brother, and not just any old brother, but a twin. Which sounded cool to Axel, except apparently Sora had had this best friend _forever_ who didn’t like Roxas at all, and when Roxas met Kairi he hoped she would be his best friend and had been ecstatic to be invited over. Except, in the way of parents all over, his mum had insisted he couldn’t come without his brother, and now it looked like Sora was going to have two best friends while Roxas had none. Axel didn’t think Kairi was worth getting this upset over, but he also really wanted this kid to stop crying before his mum came out and thought it was his fault, so before considering the consequences (something his teachers got mad at him for all the time) Axel had opened his mouth.

‘Look, Kairi’s not that great okay? I know, I’ll be your best friend, I’m way cooler than she is.’ Axel had started wiping Roxas’ face as best he could, almost missing the awed look the younger boy was giving him before it disappeared into a beaming grin.

The rest, as they say, is history. From then on, Axel had a tiny shadow that he eventually did consider his best friend and dragged him everywhere. Generally Roxas was perfectly willing to go along anyway. His school friends gave him shit about his ‘duckling’ but Axel wasn’t ever bothered that Roxas was quiet and when he wasn’t crying apparently he was being surly. He liked that Roxas would pretend to protest their latest idiocy but then go about it with even more enthusiasm than Axel sometimes. By Axel’s last year of high school, they had survived a number of shenanigans including the fit their parents threw when he helped Roxas bleach his hair blond in middle school and then proceeded to yell back at Roxas’ mum that maybe she should remember she had two sons and they weren’t the same person. They had both been grounded but after that Roxas’ mum had been better and even paid for a hairdresser to dye his hair for him from then on and Axel had figured it was worth it.

Hell, after the fiasco when Axel started high school and became good friends with Saix –even thinking about it made Axel cringe; Roxas got so possessive of his spot as best friend it was like he traded personalities with Riku– Axel had thought that they had gotten through their growing pains and everything was set in stone from now on. Bring on the retirement home, and all that crap. Now though, Axel was questioning everything, and worst of all, he missed Roxas, even if he was being an asshole lately.

Axel had ended up parked in his driveway somehow. He had been so far inside his head that he drove on autopilot. He stomped all the way up the stairs and threw himself on his bed, glaring at his reflection in the mirror. Axel groaned and rolled onto his back, staring at the ceiling. This was so stupid. He liked his tattoos. He had gotten them for himself, and he thought they looked good. He was not the kind of person who let other’s opinions get to him like this, and it felt like a personal betrayal that his best friend of all people was making him doubt himself. Axel rolled over and glared at his reflection again. It was his damn face; it wasn’t like he suddenly swapped personalities or something. It seemed so shallow after everything else. Axel was suddenly pissed about how emo he was being. This was bullshit. It wasn’t that late yet. Roxas was probably at home, unless he suddenly magicked up some other friends since he wasn’t spending as much time with Axel anymore.

Determined, Axel grabbed his car keys from his desk and turned to leave when something caught his eye. He stared at the bottle of concealer his mum had thrown at him (with instructions to wear it to school) for a moment but shook his head and turned to leave. If Roxas really couldn’t get over this, he would rather know now, rather than tie himself into knots anymore.

Axel shouted a goodbye to his sister who was watching him shrewdly from the kitchen and stalked out the front door. Hopefully Kairi wouldn’t guess his intentions and give Roxas enough warning to clear out before he got there.


End file.
